Crocheted Baby Blankie and Layette thingy ma doo ee

Ok, I bet all of you homeschoolers are wondering if I even homeschool anymore. The answer is yes ~ in fact, I absolutely DO! The dealio is, though, I just don’t have time to post it all,

However, in the spirit of bending to my current whims & obsessions, I amazingly DID have time to photograph a couple of crochet projects I did for my sister-in-law’s new baby. (If little Lucy turns into a boy at the last minute, I’m sorta toast, because I just sent these off, and she (Lucy) isn’t quite born yet.) It helps that I specifically posted these so that my mother in law could see them first. :-D (We love you guys & miss you SO Much!)

Any way here are the goodies.



This is my stitch sampler blanket ~ or I like to call it my Jacob’s Blanket of many colors/ stitches. It is made of hand-dyed cotton yarn. The cotton yarn has a nice little rayon thread running through it which gives it a pretty baby shine.








This is the layette, which hopefully fits little Lucy. It should fit up to 3 months, but that’s if the child isn’t born weighing over 9 lbs. Which I suppose is possible. Afterall, my second oldest ( who is now ~ GULP ~ almost 17!!) weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs even. You could set her next to other babies & she looked about 3 months older/ bigger. I don’t wish that scenario on any mother! ;-D






This is just an old baby gown that I made for my 4th oldest daughter ( garsh, and that child is now.. hoo booyy! 13… whoa, where do the years go??!?) I hand-smocked it, but the funny thing is, I had no clue about how to smock, so I just did it, and that’s what turned up. I recently bought some books about smocking, and realized that there are little patterns with guidance dots, and machines that will pleat it for you, and all sorts of goodies that make it easier. As I read those books, I was like “ Ooohhh… duh… yup, THAT would’ve been nice to know!” I just posted the picture because that was what was on the dolly underneath the new crocheted outfit.




And how do you like that dolly? ~heheheh~ That is my sad attempt at putting together somebody else’s cast-off ~ found on eBay~ cheapo-deluxe ~ porcelain doll project. But hey, it’s pretty much life-size for a little older than newborn ( about 3 months) so it makes for a good try-on model, and besides which, the daughter who received her couldn’t care less that she has sorta funky arms, a tippy head, and some bad face paint..

So it’s all good.

Knit 1 Crochet 1

This is my latest knit project. I just made the pattern up ~ knit 1 purl 1, till it looks long enough, and yet leaves you enough yarn leftover to make some fringe. Easy-squeezy. It is a 6 ft shawl that I knitted out of Sensations Rainbow Boucle. Although the color is lovely, the fabric is soft, and the shawl is warm, I have to say, I DETEST this yarn! I probably will never buy it again.

It could be that I am just a very novice knitter, and used too small of needles ~ it could be that my gauge was too tight, and therefore frustrating, or it could just be that this stuff snags on a ANYthing ~ probably right up to and including a bare baby's bottom. All right, all right, I have to admit it, I didn't put it next to any bare baby bottoms, HOWEVER, it snagged on everything else. I thought I might die of frustration. Luckily, for posterity's sake ( I guess, heheh) I barely managed to eek out an existance. In fact, this yarn was so annoying, it gets its very own haiku.

Sensations Rainbow

Boucle yarn snags forever

as I curse once more

And I have also noticed that once it is made up, the purled side snags on everything I wear, picks up the slightest hint of lint, stray hairs, and anything else within a 10 ft radius so that by the end of the day, although you are toasty warm and look quite nice, you seem to have developed an odd lumpiness underneath the shawl. I think it resembles fat rolls in a way, and so I will call it Shawl Cellulose Lumps. Yes. It definitely creates a severe case of SCL.

So I don't really reccomend this yarn for knitting. Or crochet, for that matter. Because the other side of this story is that I tried to crochet this yarn before I knitted it. And ~ ah was like to die!! ~ In fact, this stuff is so grabby that I could barely rip out the snasty crochet sample, and just decided to bag it and chuck the whole thing rather than deal with it.

All right ~ I have gotten a little worked up ~ breeeaaaattthhee ~ hmmmm ~ huuuu ~ uuuhhhh ~ Flushing Water ~ Child pose ~ Stand up ~ reach for the sunshine.

Ok ~ I can go on. ;-D

This is a crochet project I just finished. I mostly used the pattern from a ~ Best Of Terry Kimbrough Baby Afghans ~ book. ( which, by the way, is an absolutely BEAUTIFULLY done book of heirloom quality baby afghans. You'll want to use your nice yarn for these. I only wish she had diagrams!!) I say mostly, because I seem to have a difficult time following a written pattern. I was doing great ( because the picture of the afghan in the book showed the stitches on the body & some of the border well enough) until I hit that last part of the border. I just couldn't tell what the heck they were up too, so I improvised.

I don't like the improv as well as the picture in the book, but I consoled myself with the fact that I don't really like the color scheme that much either, and this was really more of a test to see if I could make a complicated baby afghan without wasting expensive yarn, and I was using leftover materials, so I didn't have enough of any one color for the whole dealio, sooooo ( breathe... just breaaathheee..) I used up a bunch of baby weight scraps.

Perhaps my sister will have a little girl, though, and she will use it as a floor blanky or some such.

As for the yarn, I used Bernat Softee Baby yarn, which, although it is as acrylic as all get-out, is actually not so bad to work with. Although, I will say this, the white seems to have a little more substance than the pink or or the variagate. So it makes up just a little thicker. But for a nice soft, cheap, washable baby yarn ~ not too shabby.

My next project is a pair of socks. I am going to crochet one set & knit another. I think crochet is going to be the easier of the two, but knitting may prove more comfortable to wear. So I am going to try both.

Sadly, I have not yet dyed the final two colors for my Japanese baby granny, so I am still waiting to start that. ( I am trying to decide how to go about dying a very light cream color... if any of you know how to do that, please let me know. I managed all of the other soft colors, but cream is escaping me for the moment.) I DID, however, get all the rest of the yarn for that project balled, which is quite a little chore in itself.

I will use the left-overs from this for a little matching granny square jumper dress, and perhaps some booties & a cap or hat in a solid as well.

That Yarn thing I do

Do you love yarn? Admit it, you DO! Come on, you wouldn't be reading this entry otherwise. Just seeing the play of color, the flow of fiber, that bit of shimmer... makes you want to touch it, doesn't it? Oh ..hehehe.. better yet... it makes you want to OWN it..... doesn't it? Add it to your ~Stash~?

I feel your pain, sister, I DO. It's an addiction....we're in this thing together.

Ok, So my Blurtyness today ( this week, this month...lol... ok, so... uh.. the last 3 or 4 months...) deals with my yarn fetish. That's right, among all the other things I have OCD'D on, yarn ( well, to be quite honest I must include fabric here as well, but that would be an entire other post) has to be the most prevelant, and certainly is the most recent.

Here is where it all started ~ as most of you know, I have indulged in chickenry for the last 2 yrs, and have really enjoyed that most helpful & lovely website called BackYard Chickens. And 2 Christmas's ago, I found a gal named Queen Scoot on there selling some quite cute little crocheted hats.

Enter some of the funniest Japanese Knit/Crochet Haiku I have ever read. It also is rather fitting. (All of the haiku in BOLD come from that website.)

Praising her work, I mumble to myself "I can do it, too."

So I bought a hat for each of my daughters & even one for my son, and then........and then... well, see the above haiku.

I pulled out my old crochet project ( it was an ambitious project, a quilt that required 3 times more yarn than I had purchased, and 5 times more work than I had anticipated.. and thus it sat, lo these many 25 yrs.) from when I was oh.... about 15, and thought ~ "I could re-visit this. Yes, I could. I bet I can remember the things that sweet little old lady in my ward so patiently taught me about crochet. Yes, I could do it, too."




(My first ever attempt to knit on circular needles ~ It was too tight, & ended up too short in the body, so I crocheted an edge for it. Also, I was uncertain as to how to finish off the crown, so I crocheted off the needles & just decreased in a spiral to the very center. It actually turned out ok!)

(One of my first crocheted hats, it was a mohair & silk/rayon blend. I liked it, but it didn't jump up & shout YEAH! So naturally I had to try a few more ideas!)

So I did. And then I made another. ANd yet another..... until I had almost an entire BOX full of hats. And then....

(An alpaca wool & Lion Brand chunky yarn Tibetan earflaps hat. Still one of my favorites)

( A few more of the hats in that ~box full of hats~, I actually gave about 20 hats away for Christmas this year, and sold probably 50 hats at the Farmer's Market, so this little box is just the remnants & some newbie design ideas.....yah, I never really make the same hat twice...in fact, I don't even use a pattern, I just crochet or knit till a hat appears.)

Autumn winds always drift me into yarn shops

And that's a dangerous pastime ~ especially for a woman who really & truly owns WAAAYY TOOO much yarn anyway. And most of it is specialty, NOT acrylic ~ yah, it's a problem.

"Hello, my name is Yarn Lady, and I buy/sell/dye/use yarn... every day... I'm a yarnaholic.."

How many people have touched with their cheeks on this soft yarn skein?

(Some cotton/rayon blends as well as a wool/ acrylic blends ~ SOOO soft, and they took the dye so VERY nicely!)

Yes, it's true, my stinkin' OCD took over..... and I began to acquire ~The Stash~. Now, most ALL of You Who Knit/Crochet KNOW what ~The Stash~ is. It is a giant towering mountain of guilt,

WIPs, $$$$, & some of the most lovely project potential indulgences you can have.

Yes, I DO indulge. You know, yarn can never make you fat, it can only make your craft room bulge. ;-D

Hmmm. that sounds like a haiku ~ hehe ~ here is one from me:

~ There is no fat-guilt
in yarn, only bulging crates
of color in the end. ~

(This is my latest run, just a few days ago, of 100% Egyptian cotton, looks & feels about like Sugar & Cream. I needed a certain look of soft muted pastels with a yellow undertone for a project in one of my Japanese baby crochet books)

And so, I did indeed begin to acquire. Only, specialty yarns weren't quite enough, oh no, I decided that COLOR was a something I had to control. And so.......

( yes, that's 4 gi-nor-mous toters of raw/natural yarns, already wound, ready to dye. They run the gamut from rayon chenille to wool, silk, cotton, and blends of all of the above. Believe me, I ran into a deal I just couldn't pass up on eBay. It was to DYE for... literally...heheheh)

Yes, it's true, I had to acquire a LOT of ~natural~ yarn, and dyes... so that I could make the colors that I wanted. And so I did.


(A basket of wool, bamboo, cotton, rayon & acrylic waiting to be dyed.)

(A run of colors I dyed last summer ~ drip-drying under the tree-house. I fluff them later, in the dryer, & then either twist them back into hanks or wind them into center-pull skiens.)

Now then, if you are the loving but flustered husband of an OCD ~Stash Builder~, you sometimes have to be firm. And Wood Genius WAS firm. So I did what ALL OCD Stash Builders do when their loving husbands deny them any more yarn... I offered up the possibility that I could SELL some of my Stash. Yes, I COULD. And so I did. I took some of the lesser-loved skeins & colors and tromped them over to our local Farmer's Market, and started selling off my lovely hand-dyed hanks of cotton, wool, rayon, bamboo & blends.

( A fun lot of baby or fine cotton/ rayon blend pastels I called ~Berries & Cream~. These sold so fast, it was a good thing I had made plenty for me too ~ ;-D ~ )

But then.. well, yes, it DOES get worse. Because, you see, once I started selling yarn, people began asking me about knit & crochet needles, and classes and such, and so I HAD to acquire a few EXTRA sets of bamboo needles & hooks. And of course, once you use bamboo, well, the hard cold metal will just never compare. And the more often you use bamboo needles, (especially if you do a project in wool) the slicker & softer they become. Who can deny bamboo needles? Certainly not me!! ;-D

And then, patterns...... because so many folks ALSO wanted to MAKE the hats & scarves & such that looked like the ones I was making, etc, so I had to figure out patterns ( which can be fun or a drag... depends on your level of dedication that day ....... and soooooo......

One more stitch... One more row... Ah..? It's dawn

I hate all these 15 rows over the mistake.

WHEEEWWWW!

And I began to talk to other folks who have similar knitty/ crochet-ish fetishes.
And we got together and had fun knitting and crocheting.

(A granny I sort of made up as I went. I got sick of doing the granny motif's about half-way through ~ just not inspiring anymore~ and so added on rows of crochet to fill out enough to make a twin-sized afghan.)

(This baby blanket was very fun, I found a vintage 80's sweater crocheted in thread with a whole plethora of stitches on it, and decided it would make a fun, quirky baby blanket design in these bright happy colors ~ but some of those stitches I had never tried before... so it was fun & challenging to figure out the next row of pattern stitches each time as well.)

And I finished lots of fun projects.

And of course started some more......

Secretly, I turned over your new hand knitted scarf. Did you know how I was happy when I found a brand-label on it?

Didn't you praise the botchy scarf knitted by the young girl? How can you give the cold to my paramount sweater?

(This is a ~use up your last bits of acrylic in the shades of green ~ afghan. Another quirky project, just right for the quirky daughter who recieved it. Plus, it's warm. ;-D)

It's strange really, what this most beguiling of fetishes can produce. I have come up with some very fun things... and a few that MUST be relegated to that most embarrassing of frogging categories : Ugliest Knitted Thang. Or Ugliest Crocheted Thang.

But, all in all, I have to say, crochet & knit outrank even my fabricholic-ism. And Why? Simply this ~ projects can be taken almost virtually ANYwhere. Crocheting In Public has become a favorite pastime, and every tote, purse and bag of mine seems to have sprouted its own little grouping of WIPs. (That's Work In Progress, by the way.)

And so it goes.

My latest crochet stint? Japanese baby pattern books. They have diagrams and show literally STEP-BY-STEP every single new stitch. They are fool-proof. And I don't even read Japanese!...yet..... ;-D

This is the project ~

and this is the yarn that I dyed to match. I have only the cream & light tan to to go.

Homeschool Math Curriculum Review ~ Life of Fred ~

All right, time for another Blurt Blogger moment!! Shall I give yet another stale excuse for my lack of blurtiness? NAAHHH ~ All yah all who homeschool know that time is precious ~ all yah all who have kids know it too, and all the rest ya all ~~...lol.. well..... ( does ANYONE even READ this blog who doesn't have at least ONE of those things goin' on?) yah all have lives, eh?

ok ~ So this year we were on the verge of craziness about Math in our homeschool, because even though we liked our Creative Thinking, well, we just weren't being Creative enough. Believe it or not ~ there is an even MORE creative way of thinking about Math ~ May I give you

LIFE OF FRED


Can I just say WOW!! I want you to know something ~ We LOOOVVEE Life of Fred! A bit of background ~ My kids are 17, 16, 14, 12, & 11. They are bright, beautiful, intelligent children. They love to read & reason, they excell at strategy, music, & the arts, & they have a firm foundation of faith in God.

BUT.....(And this is a tremendously LARRGGEE BUT...) Math peeps we ain't. Well.... Until now, anyway. Hold onto your seat, because this is a stunner... my kids actually wake up, run downstairs & , get this, ( & I am not lying, or even stretching the truth a teeny bit) actually EXCITEDLY TEAR OPEN the Life of Fred books!!! (without any actual harm to the books, it might be noted.)

Even I enjoy these books and Fred's adventures!!! And more importantly, even I UNDERSTAND them. (And I am a 38 yr old confirmed non-mathmatic, excessively right-brained, creative, crafty, musical and, may I stress it once again ~ VERY non-mathmatic mama.)
I must seriously congratulate Mr. Schmidt on the very best bit of crazy wild, unconventional & yet HIGHLY AWESOME & EFFECTIVE bit of comprehensive tutorial math texts EVER written!!! Because if he can bring MY brain, and my kids' brains to not only understand ( & I mean TRULY GRASP COMPLETELY) but ENJOY math..... well, my friend, he has accomplished a literal miracle.

My Dear Readers, you should know that I have been struggling with what to do with our math for years now. We had been using the Creative Thinking books, & while those are better than the average text book, ( in fact, I think they were the best thing going till we found LOF) they pale so far in comparison to LOF that the difference becomes black & white. May I even say ~STARKLY~ black & white.

So, I was praying to know what to do, because I was so stressed about the math & where the kids were with it, & my own lack of ability ( my husband can't be there to teach it everyday, he was my fallback). I got down that ginormous Rainbow Resource Center book, hoping to be inspired, & quite literally opened it to a long & very humourous description of LOF. I knew it was the answer I had been praying for.

And seeing my kids, with their actual DELIGHT in math now has been yet another blessing as well. Do you know, just today, ( & actually every day since we started the series, which has been about 3 months now) my son was laughing & comparing something in his daily shedule to LOF. I mean actual math concepts, which he now understands to such a degree that he is able to apply the concepts AWAY from the math books. In real, everyday life. They were so thrilled about it, that they wanted to read ahead in LOF, just to find out more of the story & read the humour. But I said "No Fred unless you are doing the math as well." So they sat down, and zipped through 5 lessons in one day. My kids. Who are the biggest math deny-ers ever. And me. WANTING to do math. Honestly, that IS a miracle!

Again, this is an inspired series, it is the right-brained, non-logical person's answer to truly understanding math concepts.

Here is a link to Stanley Schmidt's website ~ http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html

Here is a link to some sample pages from Life of Fred ~
http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/31samplepages.html

I guarantee you guys will LOVE this one!!!!!

Fairy Tree Stump Dollhouse

Well my friends & fellow bloggers, I have taken quite the blogging sabbatical, it is true. Once again, I have done the no-show. You know, it's funny ~ it's one of those blurt-blog things, I think. Yup, it's all becoming quite evident to me now, I am a *Blurt-Blogger*. I blog in blurty spirts. Hmmmm... I could ode that..... :-D (Hmm again, maybe I will change my blog name to that ~ it DOES fit rather aptly!!)

But instead, I will save you all the pain of yet another blurty-spirty blogging ode, & launch into my latest subject-of-interest.

Ahhhh yes, the Fairy Tree Stump Dollhouse!!!!

Here we have the delighted young dollhouse owner, trying on her new dollhouse, before any floors or interior walls were added.

Why, it FITS!!

She's very proud of Wood Genius' (aka Daddy) creation.

Wood Genius is adding some detail, taking off here & there to provvide a realistic ~log stump~ effect.

And now he has the interior fitted, and has begun to add more windows & doors.


Some of the detail on the main floor, tree growth rings & stone steps, all carved to make the piece look as much like a real tree stump as possible.

A few of the side windows & doors. Wood Genius used actual door hinges to hinge this, as it is QUITE heavy.

The main front doors ~ with a carved leaf on the front, and locking bars inside ( to keep out any wandering trolls, GI Joes, and miscellaneous Lego Pirate types..... younger brother does seem to have a rather impressive army of them.)

Here is the view walking into through the front doors. Just outside the window is a swing, hooked onto the large branch stump, of course. ;-D Oh, and it should be noted that that branch stump is actually an opening, for the fairies to take off & return from. They can fly straight out & come back through it.... apparently the front door is just for their little non-flying friends. :-D



This is the view from the side door, with the stump



Here we have another view from one of the windows.


And one more view.


This is the secret lock & key, so that no other humans except the owner can open the stump. Only fairies can have continual access through the fly-in's.



And here is the secret door for the key. (To which Wood Genius later added a carved leaf attached to a leather thong, so that it would be a lot harder to lose. Because even mature little Fairy Stump Owners sometimes have a hard time keeping track of special keys for special doors.)

Ahh, The fairies are especially active at night, & love to light up the stump with parties & fun!

Sometimes they even leave the doors open......I guess these are Idaho Fairies, not New York Fairies. ;-D

And now I have added a little color to the piece. Yes, it is still a little loud, because I haven't brushed it down with a dark wash.... all in time, my little ones, all in time.....




Once I get the wash added, I will accent a few of the rooms, and finish coat everything in a matte top coat, so that the wood doesn't stray from expansion or contraction.

Ahh, here is a better view of that Fly-In branch stump. The fairies really dig that, you know. It makes it so that they can be in (& out of) their abode without human interventions. Quite handy if you are a Little People. Unfortunately, the swing had to be removed because of painting, but the pesky humans will soon be finished with their ministrations, and the fairies can get back to partying like they prefer.

~Red